Posts Tagged ‘NFC Scandal

20 cows, 4 workers and abandoned buildings left at National Feedlot Centre

Far from its ambitious plan to be Malaysia’s premier beef exporter, the farm at the National Feedlot Centre (NFC) is today a picture of desolation with cows wandering amid overgrown grass and dilapidated buildings.

Two years after PKR lawmaker and whistleblower Rafizi Ramli exposed the alleged abuse of federal funds, the 2,000ha farm in Gemas, Negri Sembilan, has only some 10 to 20 cows, a handful of staff and a suit hanging over its management for failing to repay a RM250 million government loan.

The Malaysian Insider on a survey to the farm last week found cows roaming freely while the abattoir buildings are showing cracks and signs of decay.

Previously, the cattle were placed in barns but they were set loose after the scandal broke.

“After the scandal, there was no food, so the cows were allowed to graze around the farm,” one of four employees left at the farm said during the visit.

Declining to be named, the four said their task was to guard the property and check on the cows with two employees on every shift to patrol the area.

“If any of the cattle becomes sick or dies, we just take pictures,” one of them said.

They also have to ensure that no one breaks into the farm as furniture, air-conditioning units and other office equipment are still in some of the buildings. Some electric cables were stolen from the farm last year, they said.

They said the fate of the farm would only be known next year, whether it would be handed over to the Negri Sembilan government or tendered to private companies.

Already, some 500ha of the land have been planted with oil palm.

This sorry state is a far cry from the fanfare surrounding the enterprise, which was part of a high-impact project under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP) aimed at turning Gemas into Malaysia’s “Beef Valley” and cut down foreign beef imports.

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin on his tour to the farm run by the National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp) in June 2011 praised the facility, saying that it would not only meet local demand for beef, but would also penetrate overseas markets.

“The NFC project will make Malaysia a beef exporter. We expect there would not be any problems with supply although Malaysia’s population is increasing at an average of 5% annually.

“The beef will be marketed by big hypermarkets like Tesco and Giant as well as at pasar tani run by Fama,” Muhyiddin had said then, referring to the Federal Agricultural Marketing Agency.

NFC hit the headlines after it was cited in the Auditor-General’s Report for failing to meet its target of breeding 8,000 head of cattle by 2010. It was to have produced 60,000 cattle by 2015.

Putrajaya must recover every single sen from the National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp), including the interest from the RM250 million loan, said PKR’s Rafizi Ramli following Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s move to initiate legal action against the cattle-rearing firm.

The PKR Pandan federal lawmaker said the Barisan Nasional-led government should also go after the company’s directors and their assets to recover the money owed.

“The government must not forget other things, including the 2.5% interest on the loan, which works out to RM50 million after six years. This is a substantial amount,” he said in the parliament lobby today.

In his written reply to Khalid Samad (PAS-Shah Alam), Najib said NFCorp had only repaid RM34.98 million to date.

Repeated notices to the company that ran the National Feedlot Centre and is owned by the family of a former Umno minister had been ignored, prompting Putrajaya to cease its agreement with NFCorp and initiate legal action.

Rafizi, who catapulted into the limelight in 2011 after highlighting abuse of funds by the company, said a cursory glance at Najib’s reply looked as though the government was pursuing action only on the principal loan and without including the interest accrued.

“I will continue to press the government to account for every single sen owed,” he said.

He expressed worry that the government was only giving the impression that it was taking action against the company.

“I fear it’s a show to appeal to the public and in the end, it might not recover much,” he said.

To ensure all money was recovered, Rafizi said Putrajaya must go after the NFC directors and their assets.

“If the government sues NFCorp, they might not recover much as the company does not hold much assets,” he added.

The NFCorp scandal was first exposed by the Auditor General Report 2011, which stated that the cattle-rearing project had not met its milestones, followed by revelations by Rafizi that the funds were abused to buy high-end property.

Putrajaya will take legal action against National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp) for failure to repay the RM250 million loan for its cattle-rearing project.

Finance minister Datuk Seri Najb Razak said the company was to repay the loan from 2012 to 2028.

As of September this year, the company had repaid only RM34.98 million, which is part of the 2012 and 2013 repayments.

“Repayments for this year, which matured in January 6, had yet to start,” he told Khalid Samad (PAS-Shah Alam) in a written reply.

As a result, Putrajaya has issued a notice to NFCorp in May, giving it a 90-day extension to repay the loan.

But the company failed to adhere to the new deadline, prompting Putrajaya to issue an event of default notice on September 4 to the company ceasing its agreement and initiate legal action.

Last year, Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah said the government had recovered RM79.9 million from NFCorp by freezing its accounts through the Anti-Money Laundering Act.

He had said the government had also sealed NFCorp’s assets worth RM23.3 million, namely two parcels of land in Putrajaya, two units of real estate in Menerung Township Villa and three plots of land in Gemas.

Putrajaya had also revealed that talks for another firm to take over the project had collapsed, with the Finance Ministry confirming that negotiations with Kirimitonas Agro Sdn Bhd (KASB), a joint venture between a local investor and a meat producer in Japan, have ended.

The NFCorp scandal was first exposed by the Auditor General Report 2011, which stated that the cattle-rearing project had not met its milestones, followed by revelations by PKR’s Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli that the funds were abused to buy high-end property.

The project was awarded to NFCorp operated by the family of Wanita Umno head Datuk Seri Shahrizat Jalil, whose husband Datuk Seri Dr Mohamed Salleh Ismail chaired the company’s board of directors, which included the couple’s children.

They were later alleged to have misused the government’s allocation of RM250 million for the project.

MP SPEAKS Stern action must be taken against the minister and senior officers responsible for the National Feedlot Centre fiasco after strong condemnation by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

While we were disappointed that the MACC has failed to find elements of corruption in the RM250 million National Feedlot Centre scandal, we must commend the report put forward by the commission which detailed elements of where the whole deal went wrong. It is a report long overdue, but it is certainly better late than never.

The MACC has revealed that the Agriculture Ministry, then under the helm of Muhyiddin Yassin, had awarded the National Feedlot Centre project to a company without technical or financial capabilities.

The MACC also pointed out that there was no consideration of conflict of interest between any government officer and the recipient of the government soft loan for the project.

What is perhaps most damning of the report is the finding that the Agriculture Ministry “did not do due diligence” on the company awarded the project. “The Agriculture Ministry failed to select a truly competent company to run the National Feedlot Centre as it was selected through limited tender. The company which was allowed to present their proposals did not have technical background or strong financial standing,” it said.

The above has been known by all Malaysians ever since the scandal first broke out in 2010 and it took MACC nearly three years to finally confirm the obvious.

The next question on the minds of all Malaysians is “why” did the Agriculture Ministry award such an important project to a company which “did not have technical background or strong financial standing”.

Such awards, including the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone project which tends to be the norm rather than the exception in the BN administration leads to the suspicions of cronyism and corruption. If not cronyism and corruption, then at best it could be excused for incompetence and negligence.

The problem is, the number of ministers and senior government officials getting away with the excuse of “incompetence and negligence” from doing the same things repeatedly as highlighted annually in the Auditor-General’s Reports are just one too many.

‘Clever in acting incompetent?’

Hence, a typical Malaysian cannot be blamed for feeling that those responsible for the above misdeeds are either extremely clever in acting incompetent, or so obtuse that they are incurably incompetent.

Regardless of which is which, we urge the Najib administration to take stern action against these ministers and officers responsible for causing billions of losses to Malaysians.

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 — Negotiations between the government and a Japanese company to revive the National Feedlot Centre (NFC) project has fallen through, the Finance Ministry revealed today.

In a written reply to Tony Pua (DAP-Petaling Jaya Utara), the ministry said no agreement has been reached between the government and Kirimitonas Agro Sdn Bhd (KASB), a joint-venture company between a local investor and a meat-producing company in Japan, and that negotiations have ended.

“There will be no company which will take over the NFC project and we are not surprised because there will be no company that will pay and take over all the liabilities or the loan of RM250 million, and after that, has to add investment to revive the project.

“Only if you have too much money you will do that,” Pua told reporters at the Parliament lobby today.

Pua pointed out that the RM250 million is still owed by the National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp), a firm owned and operated by Wanita Umno chief Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil’s family.

“Why up till today not even one sen has been returned to the government?

“Why today the government still don’t take any legal action against NFCorp and Shahrizat’s family to retrieve the money owed?” the DAP MP asked.

In July, Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah said the government has received RM79.9 million from the RM250 million loaned out to NFCorp for its NFC project, through the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act 2001.

He said the government also sealed NFC’s assets worth RM23.3 million, namely two pieces of land in Putrajaya, two units of real estate in Menerung Township Villa and three plots of land in Gemas.

The RM250 million National Feedlot Corporation scandal was a result of the Agriculture Ministry’s failure to carry out due diligence before awarding the contract, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) said today.

In its 2012 annual report, the MACC reported a slew of weaknesses in the civil service system which left a lot of loopholes which were opened to abuse, such as the NFC scandal. Chief commissioner Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamed said the Agriculture Ministry had failed to choose a competent company to execute the project.

“The selection of the company was categorised as service acquisition and the format used was limited tender. Moreover, the company which was given the opportunity to present a working paper did not have sound technical competence or a strong financial background,” Abu Kassim said in the report.

“This also shows that the due diligence process on the selected company was not executed prior to the awarding of the contract. The government’s representatives on the NFC’s board of directors also failed to play their roles properly,” he revealed.

The agencies which were involved in the NFCorp were the Agriculture Ministry, the Finance Ministry and Menteri Besar Negri Sembilan Inc. Putrajaya held one “golden share” in NFC which is utilised when it involves decisions which can affect the public or national interests.

“There were also no requirements in the code of ethics for civil servants to make declarations if any of their immediate family members receive financial loans from the government. The project was not brought to the attention of the Cabinet or the Finance Ministry,” he said.

Although the RM250 million project involved several government agencies including the Finance Ministry, Agriculture Ministry and the Economic Planning Unit, the agency primarily responsible was not mentioned specifically.

MARCH 18 – When public funds for a national cattle farm were found to be used to buy properties, is that politics or a crime?

What if the firm running the cattle farm is related to a government leader? Is it only politics or still a crime?

While the jury (a quaint phrase with no practical use in Malaysia) is still out on what went wrong with the National Feedlot Centre (NFC), Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil told a court today the opposition attack on the project was because they feared the strength of her Wanita Barisan Nasional (BN).

The Wanita BN and Wanita Umno chief had filed a RM100 million defamation suit against PKR strategy chief Rafizi Ramli and PKR Wanita chief Zuraida Kamaruddin over their statements, and the case was heard today.

“Your client was gunning for me as Wanita BN chief because he’s afraid of the strength of Wanita BN,” an angrily-gesturing Shahrizat told Rafizi’s lawyer, Ranjit Singh, in court today.

It may be politics, but it is still a crime, no?

Shahrizat might think that the entire world fears Wanita BN’s strength but her Selangor Wanita BN chief is also embroiled in a publicly-funded project that has yet to bear fruit.

Coincidence that both Wanita BN chiefs are linked to business problems or is it just a plot to weaken the movement?

The fact of the matter is, public funds were used and someone has to be accountable, no matter if they hold high positions or their movements are feared by many.

It is time that one sees the issue as it is: The abuse of public funds for national projects as exposed by the Auditor-General.

If there was no hint of wrongdoing and it being a case of political manoeuvres, would the Najib administration have not renewed Shahrizat’s senatorship, effectively dropping her from the Cabinet?